rubio voted against raising the debt ceiling, thus provoking the credit downgrade that accompanied the fiasco in 2011. he supported governor rick scott's abominable attempt to suppress the vote in florida. he co-sponsored a bill which would enable employers to deny birth control to their employees, and despite the fact that 97% of researchers polled by the national academy of sciences believe in manmade climate change, mr. rubio remains unconvinced. if the republican party wishes to do nothing more than a small amount of cosmetic surgery on its public image, then mr. rubio seems like the perfect salesman. but scratch the surface, and mr. rubio is infected with the same old backward-facing policies that the voters rejected so comprehensively in november. thanks so much for watching this afternoon. chris matthews and "hardball" is next. >>> new pope. let's play "hardball." ♪ >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this stunning news today that the head of the 1.2 billion. person roman catholic church is retiring at the end of the month. this is the